Saturday, June 23, 2012

A Speech and Two Visits

At 4pm this afternoon, the National Day celebrations started with the changing of the guard in front of the palais, while the whole day the last preperations for today's and tomorrow's event were made.

During his speech for the National Day, prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker mentioned Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, wishing them all the best in the world and saying that he and the whole country are very much looking forward to their wedding later this year, and that it will be a celebration for the whole country. In case you'd like to watch it, here you go.

The first official event for the grand ducal family was the traditional visit of the Hereditary Grand Duke to Esch-sur-Alzette, the Grand Duchy's second largest town. Sadly, he was not accompanied by his fiancée. But instead he brought his sister Princess Alexandra along, which is just as beautiful.

The two were welcomed by the city's mayor at the Place de la Résistance where they laid down a wreath. Afterwards they made their way through Esch and finally ended up on the balcony of the town hall. Pictures can be found over at Wort #1, Wort #2 and Tageblatt. Short glimpses of them can be seen in RTL's evening news (starting at 14:07), they will have more footage tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa visited Differdange where they watched a parade and mingled with their subjects on the fair. Photos are available at Wort.

As of yet, I can't find pictures of tonight's torchlight procession but I'm sure that will change soon.


Sources: Wort, RTL

3 comments:

  1. Do you find it odd that Stephanie hasn't participated in official events yet? Their wedding continues to draw closer and she doesn't appear to be "in training" as we have seen so often before. Is she finishing up school or something?

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  2. Could be possible that she still works in her job in an investment firm in Brussels. It's just the way it works in Luxembourg; only as an official member of the family she will attend official events.

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  3. Sounds like this is normal in Luxembourg! Good news!

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